Chapter 4

Eric's pov

I checked my rolex watch one more time before standing up to stretch my legs. I was the one watching my brother tonight as everyone else had gone home with a promise to return early in the morning. All alone with my thoughts for company, I kept thinking about the lady from this morning. The fact that I kept thinking about her even though I had a girlfriend was enough to make me bothered. This was someone I didn't know evoking feelings that the one I was with didn't evoke. I always thought my lack of butterflies for Diana was because I wasn't the kind of man to have those feelings in the first place. 

But here was a stranger proving me wrong. Who was this woman with the violet eyes? What was her name?

“Nadia.” I heard my brother say softly in his sedative induced sleep as if to answer my question. I walked to stand by his side, wondering if I misheard. 

“Justin, can you hear me?” I bent close so I could get my ear close to his mouth in case he said anything again, but I got no answer in return. When nothing was said after five minutes, I straightened. I was definitely hearing things from being cooped up in this rather spacious room for hours. Having spotted a garden from Justin's window, I decided to go for a walk. 

The body guard standing by the door gave me a nod and I told him I wouldn't be long. I took the elevator to the last floor. As I got out, my phone rang and I picked it up when I saw it was Diana. Wouldn't want her to complain that I was ignoring her because she was in Paris for the fashion week.

“Hi baby! You won't believe the news I just got!” she screamed into the phone, almost taking my ear with her. I pulled the phone from the precious organ and put the call on loudspeaker. 

“What is it?” I couldn't feign excitement at the news. I was just tired and I needed rest.

“Wont you even guess?” she pouted like a little girl crying for her daddy's attention. 

“Diana, I am not really in the right frame of mind to be playing guessing games with you. My brother is in the hospital remember.” I knew that was harsh, but I was so tired I didn't care. I didn't hear anything for a while. “Are you there?”

“Yeah. I am.” I heard her sniffle and the anger I felt at myself grew. “I’m sorry about the way I said what I said. I'm just stressed. What's the news? Did you meet someone super famous?” I tried as a way of apologizing.

“Apology accepted. I met a lot of famous people but that's not the news I want to share with you. I got signed by Oliveria!” She yelled excitedly. Luckily, the phone was far away so I didn't mind as much. Thanks to my dalliance in my mother’s world, I knew a thing or two about fashion. That was how I knew Oliveria was a very popular perfume for wealthy ladies. They catered to the rich only. 

“I’m going to be their new model for the new season.” 

No wonder why she was delighted. Oliveria was one of the brands she vowed to work with. 

“That’s good news for you. You'll get to work with the brand of your dream.” 

“Yay! That's why I called to share. I wanted you to have this good news. Maybe this good news would usher in something good for you too, and it would keep your mind on other things. By the way, how is he doing now?”  She said, surprising the hell out of me. I wasn't surprised because she asked, I was surprised because of the things she said before she asked me how Justin was fairing. The Diana I knew was very self absorbed. 

“He’s okay. I'm with him tonight. The doctors said he would probably be asleep for some days. Although, some minutes earlier I thought I heard him say something, but I guess it was just my mind playing tricks on me.” 

“Don't give up. You'll see that he would be fine and everything would all be a bad dream.” She said and weirdly I felt comforted by her words. Liking her tone and mood this night, I found myself wanting to prolong our phone conversation, but that wasn't to be as someone yelled her name in the background, requesting she joined them. “I have to go, Hun. We would talk more later on.” She didn't even wait for my goodbye before she went off. Exhaling, I returned my phone back into my jeans pocket and went to sit down on the bench. After some minutes and the nervous energy that had taken me out of the room didn't disapparate, I browsed for one of the cool night life spots around, and I found a bar called “Your Lucky Hour” which had a green clover with a winking eye. So I took off to go get lucky.

~

Nadia Ross

Because I didn't want my parents to know I wasn't working at the club anymore, I decided to go to the Joseph’s bar with Jamie. When we got to the bar, Joseph appeared from no where, like he had been waiting for me, and lifted me off the ground for his version of a bear hug. I glanced to my side to check Jamie’s reaction but found she was already by the bar putting on her apron. 

“Would you mind putting me down, you brute!” I yelled while tapping his shoulder. His response was to twirl me around. “Stop it or I'll puke in your hair.” I threatened seriously and he hastily dropped me back on earth. I looked around the bar that felt like home away home, smiling as I glanced at the small crowd standing in front of wall of stories. That had been my idea.

“As always, you look beautiful.” He said, giving me a smile which I returned. I was dressed in a simple knee length white dress with spaghetti hand on a strapped lilac boots. As I stared at my handsome friend, pride welled up in my chest at the amount of exposure his bar was steadily getting. He deserved this and more after spending years in maximum prison for a crime he didn't commit. Too bad he didn't see Jamie as she saw him.

“You didn't go to the club tonight?” He asked, watching me carefully because this was the first night I wouldn't go to the club in a long time. I replied that I was not working tonight. To push away further discussion on the matter, I looked around the packed room.

“No show tonight?” I asked, glancing at the empty stage which had musical instruments neatly arranged on it as they waited to be fiddled with. The mic stood on the mic stand, tall and proud, waiting for the bold person who would use it first this night. 

“I have some sign ups, but no one wants to go first. The chickens are all waiting for the scapegoat so they can feel out the crowd, know what am saying?” He said digustedly, pushing his lips to the side as he sneered at the thought. 

I laughed, my insides feeling pleasantly relaxed when some moments ago they were tensed and worried. Music and Designing had the power to soothe all my worries and slay all the dragons of doubt in my mind. Those were my elements.

“What if I opened for tonight?” I asked him, a wide grin on my face as I did. I couldn't tell why I felt this compulsion to sing today. I didn't plan to and I definitely wasn't dressed for a performance, but I still wanted to get on the stage and face the room while searching for the one face I would connect with.

“I’ll be your sound.” Joseph said, and we shook hands like the long time partners we were. I rushed to the changing area after collecting Jamie's makeup kit so I could touch up my face because of the lights. After dabbing a little red lipstick, I looked myself over in the mirror. My violet eyes were highlighted by the mascara and eyeliner I used, making the mysterious color pop out more than usual. A satisfied smile settled on my face and my heart began to thump wildly. The rush fueled me, making me feel like I could conquer the world if I wanted to. I felt like I was going on a date with destiny tonight.

It felt right.